There are basically two Social Security Administration (SSA) disability programs that you can apply for: 1) Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, also known as Title II; and 2) Supplemental Security Income (SSI), also known as Title XVI.  SSA will decide which program that you qualify for, even if you did not apply for both programs.  If you apply for both programs, it is called a concurrent case.  This blog will discuss the SSDI benefits program. (A future blog will discuss SSI).

SSDI is for workers who have paid Social Security through their work, thereby earning credits. It is basically an insurance program as its name implies. It is for people under the full retirement age, which for most people now is age 66 or 67. It is age 66, for people born 1943-1954.  For people born after 1954, the full retirement age increases gradually until it reaches age 67. For people born after 1954, it is set at age 67.

There are two basic categories for people who qualify for SSDI.  The first is if you are a disabled person who is under the full retirement age, mentioned above, and you are insured. Whether you are insured depends on your work credits and when you earned them. You can earn up to 4 credits per year.  A work credit is 3 months of work.

The number of work credits you need depends on your age.  In general, the number of work credits you need depends upon your age.  For example, at age 62, you would need 40 work credits, while at age 42, you would need 20 work credits to qualify. Before age 24, you would need six credits ending in the period that ended before your disability started. Ages 24-31 would need credit hours for having worked half the time between age 21 and when you become disabled.

The second category applies if you have certain family members who are entitled to Social Security disability benefits.  In this case, your benefits are based on the earnings record of the insured family member. There are several categories of such benefits and there are specific requirements for each one.  These include: 1) A divorced spouse of a disabled worker; 2) If you are age 62 or older and been the spouse of a disabled worker for at least one year; 3) divorced spouse of insured worker; 4) Disabled widow or widower who is at least 50 years old, but less than 60, and the spouse received disability or retirement benefits; 4) You are the parent of a minor and you are the surviving spouse. As I said, each of these categories have very specific requirements, that we at Marcy Disability can help you with.